Traditionally, fractures of the ankle, tibia and fibula have been treated with casts of plaster of paris. The cast immobilizes the ankle, leg, knee and thigh to limit the mobility of the patient. Plaster casts are uncomfortable because of their weight, and lack of ambulation can lead to joint stiffening and muscle atrophy. Therefore, in recent years removable fracture braces or orthosis for tibia and fibula fractures have been used. Such removable braces typically utilize a rigid shoe portion and integrally formed side plates which extend adjacent to the ankle and leg of a patient. The shoe and side plates are then selectively strapped to the foot and leg of the patient.
Due to the various ages and heights of patients, hospitals and doctors are required to inventory numerous sizes of braces to accommodate different sized feet and legs, and in addition are required to stock various sizes of braces depending upon where a fracture occurs on the leg or ankle of a patient. Such inventorying requires a large expenditure of capital as well as physical space for storing such braces of various sizes. Although a physician may inventory a standard shoe size, the requirement for various sized side plates requires the inventorying of numerous braces with the same or different shoe size.
A need has thus arisen for a fracture brace for leg and ankle treatment which provides for separate boot and side plate members which can be independently inventoried by a physician and which can be selectively interconnected to form a rigid fracture brace for a patient. Such a fracture brace will allow for numerous sized boot and side plate members which can be customized to the patient's size as well as the location of the leg fracture.